Stowaway
by Buddy Williams
Summary: After regaining her memories, Wanda returns to hunting her father. Little does she know, this time she has a traveling partner.


**Author's Note**: Okay, here is my first story. It'll probably be crap, but then…. most of the stories on this site are crap too.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own X-Men: Evolution, or any characters in this story. If I did, Rogue would have died a horrible, painful death by now and everyone would have danced and spit all over her grave.

"Blah blah blah" Talking

'_blah blah blah' _Thinking

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Stowaway

It was dawn in the county. The air was filled with the peaceful melody of buzzing insects and chirping birds. The warm light of the sun hung like a veil over the countryside, adding a warm, soft look to everything. A rabbit slowly emerged from her burrow and hopped out onto a winding country road. Suddenly sensing danger, she froze, her whiskers twitching madly. In a split second she had bolted off the road and into her burrow. A wise move, because a split second later a rusty yellow Camero came shrieking around the bend at eighty miles per hour, promptly destroying the peaceful, serene atmosphere of the countryside.

The owner of the speeding and dangerous vehicle was a young man sporting a crew cut and a bad attitude. However, the owner of the car wasn't actually driving it. He was sixty miles away, attempting to escape from a chain link fence that had suddenly come alive and expressed a strong desire to see how long it had to strangle him until he stopped moving.

The current driver of the vehicle was none other than a highly irate Wanda Maximoff. Wanda sat at the wheel, her face twisted into its usual scowl. She had just recently stumbled upon a promising lead about the whereabouts of her _oh so loving_ father and was hell bent on paying him a little… visit. She would have snarled some ominous threat about 'making him pay', but the bumpy dirt road she was driving on would have ruined the effect. Instead, she settled for growling and griping the steering wheel even tighter in an effort to release some pent up rage. Not that it would have made a difference. Wanda had been angry before, enraged even, but now, she was _pissed_.

She let out a low growl when she remembered the reason for the extra hatred.

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Brotherhood House. Two Days Ago:

Wanda yawned as she stood in the kitchen and made herself a snack. After the defeat of Apocalypse, life was looking up. Anti-mutant racism had dropped off to the point where angry mobs no longer surrounded the house and going out in public was possible. Additionally, Magneto had promised to visit more often so that they could spend more time together as a family. Granted, he had yet to fulfill that promise, but he was a busy man, she was sure he'd visit soon. But, aside from her father's absence, things were great. As if to make up for the fact that he hadn't yet made good on his promise, the X-Nerds had been less annoying than usual. Heck, even Toad had been less annoying than usual.

Just then, the amphibious teen in question shuffled into the kitchen.

"Speak of the devil", Wanda muttered and braced herself for the inevitable barrage of sickening pet-names and disgusting attempts at flirtation. However, after a few moments of silence, it became apparent that Toad wasn't going to try to make a pass at her. Wanda raised an eyebrow in confusion; wasn't this the part where he tried to charm her into a date or something? Curiosity piqued, she took a second look and noticed he was acting unusually nervous and fidgety. In fact, now that she thought about it, he'd been nervous and fidgety all week.

Wanda sighed. She really didn't want to ruin her streak of good luck by giving Toad an excuse to bug her, but he was her friend – albeit her most annoying friend – and she owed it to him to at least try and make him feel better. "What's wrong Toad?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, nuthin, yo"

Wanda growled, growing impatient, "Toad, you've been moping around the house all week, now tell me what's wrong."

"Alright, alright….. I shoulda told you a long time ago anyway…." Todd gulped and tried to figure out where to begin. "Uh, let's see… okay, you know those nightmares about Magneto throwin you in an asylum that you been havin the last couple a months?"

Wanda raised an eyebrow in suspicion. How had he known about her nightmares?

"You scream and yell pretty loud, and the walls are kinda thin." Todd explained, seeing her suspicion.

Wanda continued to at him suspiciously, "Alright, go on"

"Okay, uh, well, I really don't know how to say this, but those ain't nightmares, they're memories. Your dad really did lock you in an asylum when you were a kid."

"WHAT!?!" Wanda shrieked in outrage. "Is this your sick idea of a joke!?!"

"No! Wanda, I'm tellin the truth!" Todd whimpered. "Your father couldn't control your temper, so he locked you up!"

"LIAR! My father would NEVER do that! He loved me! He still loves me!"

"Yes he would!" Todd continued, "And when he couldn't take your mission for revenge anymore he kidnapped you an' had one of his goons mess up your memories so you wouldn't remember!"

Wanda slowly sank into a chair. "No.." she moaned weakly, "It can't be true…"

"An' I wanted to tell you for so long," he continued, "but for the first time since I met you, you were happy, and I didn't want to take that away from you. So I didn't tell you, but it's been eating at me an I been feeling so guilty an'…" He trailed off. "Will you forgive me Wanda, please?"

Wanda sat at the table, mute and unmoving with an unreadable expression on her face. After hat seemed like an eternity of deathly silence, Wanda slowly looked up.

Todd smiled hopefully, _'Does she forgive me? Was I all worried about noth-'_ And then he saw the look on her face. _'Oh crud'_

"YOU MISERABLE, SLIMY, SPINELESS, FREAK!" Wanda screamed, her hands crackling and sparking with blue hex energy. "YOU KNEW ALL ALONG AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!"

"Wanda! P-please, you gotta-"

"SHUT UP!" she screeched and fired a hex blast so powerful that it sent Toad flying through two walls, a window, the neighbor's fence and into a tree.

The rest of the Brotherhood sprinted into the kitchen to see what the commotion was about. In 3/16ths of a second, Pietro analyzed the situation, determined that Wanda was back to her old psychotic self, and promptly ran for his life before she could enact bloody revenge.

"Alright," Lance shouted, "What the hell is-" but before he could finish his question, Wanda's rage-induced hex storm caused a drawer to be torn from the counter and smashed into his head, promptly knocking him unconscious. Then, before Fred could give his two cents worth, the floor collapsed, sending him plummeting into the basement.

With a storm of hexed objects whirling around her, Wanda strode purposefully out the door. She would find her father, and He. Would. Pay.

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Somewhere in Rural Pennsylvania, Present:

A loud bang brought Wanda back to the present. It seemed that while she was remembering the recent turn of events, her powers had involuntarily hexed the car. As thick black smoke began to billow out from under the hood and the car slowly chugged to a stop, Wanda let out a long string of violent curses. Muttering darkly, she threw open the door and stormed around to the front of the car. She threw open the hood of the car to see the problem and was promptly choked by a billowing cloud of smoke.

Coughing and gagging, she used her powers to clear the smoke and bent down to try and identify the problem. However, because she was cursing at the engine, she didn't hear the trunk door pop open. And because she was staring at the engine, she didn't see a figure stealthily emerge from the trunk and begin to creep toward her. Wanda continued to stare at the engine, looking for a broken part, totally oblivious to the figure that was now right behind her.

Wanda growled in exasperation, "Dammit! The god damn car brakes down, I don't know a god damn thing about engines, and I'm in the middle of god damn nowhere!"

"Need a hand, cuddlebumps?"

Wanda shrieked and spun around, immediately hexing the "mysterious figure", causing him to soar twenty feet before landing in a heap on the road.

As she began to calm down, Wanda immediately grew suspicious, _'That voice sounded familiar, but he wouldn't be stupid enough to follow me….'_ Then she got a good look at the person in question. "TOAD!?!"

The amphibious teen in question immediately sprang back up, easily clearing the twenty feet he'd been thrown and landing at Wanda's side.

"At your service, babycakes." Todd said, grinning widely. Wanda's lower eyelid began to twitch.

"Toad. What. Are. You. Doing Here?" she growled through clenched teeth.

Toad gulped. "W-well y'see, I just figured that since I messed up by not telling you about the whole brainwashing thing, I'd just make it up to you by helping you take down Magneto."

Wanda sighed and massaged her temples, "And just how do you plan on helping me destroy my father?"

"Well…" Todd thought, "I could start with fixing your car for you."

Wanda raised an eyebrow, "Since when do you know anything about fixing engines?"

Todd shrugged, "Since last year, yo. Lance taught me some stuff about engines and I found out I'm pretty good with mechanical stuff."

Wanda sighed, _'What's the worst he could do?'_ she thought, _'The engine's already broken, I may as well let him try.'_

"Fine." Wanda muttered, waving her hand dismissively, "Go ahead and try."

Todd straightened up and puffed out his chest. "Your wish is my command, sweetums!" he said with a salute. Then, with a small hop, he propelled himself up onto the edge of the car and inspected the engine. After a few minutes he whistled softly and hopped down.

"Damn, yo. What happened to this thing?"

"I accidentally hexed it" Wanda snapped, "Can you fix it or not?"

Todd grinned, "For you, I could do anything."

Wanda's hands began to glow menacingly.

"But, uh, it'll take a while, yo." He finished quickly.

"Why, what's wrong with it?" Wanda asked.

"Well, the spark plugs are overloaded, the alternator ain't alternating, the engine coolant is too hot, there's a hole in the oil pan, some of the pistons are jammed, and all the battery acid seems to be missing from the battery."

Wanda blinked in surprise, "…Oh. So how long until it's repaired then?"

Todd shrugged, "If everything words on the first try, sometime tomorrow morning."

Hearing this, Wanda crossed her arms and turned away muttering, "Great, just great. Stuck in the middle of nowhere until tomorrow with Toad."

Todd had already crawled under the car to patch the leak in the oil pan, but his voice drifted up through the guts of the engine, "This is great! Just me an' Wanda spending a romantic night sleeping under the stars." Any further romantic thoughts that Todd may have had were cut off when Wanda hexed the car again, causing the oil pan to fall off completely and hit Toad on the head.

"Owww" Todd whined, "Why'd you do that? No I gotta fix this too!"

Wanda smirked, "It was worth it." She said as she strolled over to a nearby tree and sat down in the shade.

After several hours later Todd was still working on the engine and Wanda was having a mental conflict. The temperature had soared in the late afternoon, prompting Todd to remove his shirt to keep cool, and Wanda had a sneaking suspicion that she was far less revolted by the sight of him than she should have been. Eventually a mixture of pity for Todd, who had been working for six hours straight, and hatred of herself, who had been staring at Todd for six hours straight, prompted her to allow him to quit for the night.

"So my crimson cutie, where do we make our camp?" Todd, now fully clothed, asked as he hopped over to her.

Wanda gestured at the ground around her, "I'm going to set up camp here, and you can set up your camp way over there; in those thorn bushes."

Todd frowned and shuffled his feet, "I was kinda hoping we could share the same camp, yo." He mumbled.

Wanda scowled, "Why? Planning on trying something?" she snarled, hex energy crackling dangerously around her fists. Wanda was expecting him to quickly stammer out an apology and hop away as fast as possible. Instead, Todd surprised her by giving her a look filled with more hurt than she had thought the little pest was capable of feeling.

"Do you really think I would try to do something like that, Wanda?" He quietly asked.

Caught off guard by this sudden display of emotion, Wanda hesitated. True, he was slimy and disgusting; and true, he definitely had some sort of obsession with her, but he had never attempted anything against her will (Aside from hanging mistletoe on her doorframe and cooking her meals while wearing 'kiss the cook' aprons, but those hardly counted).

Wanda sighed, "No...no, I guess I don't think you would try anything like that. Sorry."

If Todd's face had just expressed more sadness than she thought he was capable of feeling, it now expressed more happiness than she thought _anything _was capable of feeling.

"It's okay cuddlebumps, I forgive you!" Todd said happily as he enveloped her in a surprisingly non-slimy hug.

"Toad" Wanda said in an icily calm voice, "You have three seconds to let me go before I remove your head from your body."

Todd "eep"ed and sprang away from her, chuckling nervously. "Sorry 'bout that, I'll just go get some firewood." And with that he leaped into the air and disappeared behind a grove of trees.

Wanda grimaced and brushed off her trench coat where he had hugged her. He hadn't left any slimy residue or an imprint, but she still couldn't help feeling dirty. Several minutes later, Todd came bounding beck with a large bunch of sticks in his arms.

"Alright babycakes, prepare to be amazed" he boasted, dropping the sticks in a pile, "With nothing but the sticks you see before you, Toad, master of the elements, will make fire!" With that he snatched up the two nearest sticks and began rubbing them together furiously. Unfortunately, several minutes of rubbing yielded nothing but aching muscles, a slightly charred and smoking stick, and a highly amused witch.

Todd threw the sticks back into the pile in frustration, "Sorry, yo. Stupid sticks must be defective or something."

Wanda's only response was to smirk and wave her hand toward the fire. As she did, the probability of the pile of sticks spontaneously combusting rose from 1/100th of one percent to one hundred percent, causing the pile to instantly burst into flames.

Todd smiled and began to warm his hands in front of the fire, "Thanks, sweetums. You're the greatest!"

Wanda was tempted to manipulate the fire into leaping forward and burning his hands, but decided against it. Not because she cared or anything, he just… needed his hands to fix the car. So, the two of them sat there staring at the fire; entranced by the flickering and dancing flames.

After a while, Todd cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Wanda?"

"Mmhmm?"

"Can… can I ask you something?"

Wanda raised an eyebrow and gave hi a suspicious look. Finally she muttered, "I suppose."

Todd nodded and continued, "I was jus' wondering, what do ya plan on doin' after ya… you know… 'take care of' you father?"

Wanda opened her mouth to answer, but no answer came.

"I don't really know." She said after a moment's hesitation. "I never really put much thought into what I'll do after I get my revenge."

"Do you… think you'll be happy?"

Wanda raised an eyebrow in confusion. What kind of question was that? Her father would be dead and gone, of course that would make her happy… wouldn't it?

"I mean" Todd continued, "Do you really think _murder_ will make you feel better?"

Well, when he phrased it like that… Wait, this was _Magneto_ they were talking about. The man who had thrown her into that hellish asylum and left her there to rot!

Wanda's face hardened, "Nothing would make me happier."

At Todd's skeptical look she scowled and turned away. "You wouldn't understand." She snarled.

"Actually, I think I do, yo" Todd said softly.

Wanda turned around and gave him a questioning look, so he took a deep breath and continued.

"When… when I was a kid, my pops wasn't the greatest either. I guess he must not've been too thrilled that his genes could make a freak of nature like me. So, he'd every day in the morning an' spend the whole day cruising from one bar to another, drinkin hisself stupid. Then, late at night, when he'd come home he'd beat the shit outta me, jus cause I was there. My momma tried to stop him a couple a times, but that'd just make him angrier an' he'd start smacking her around too. But that wasn't the worst of it. Sometimes, when he was really sauced, he'd come into my room an' he'd… do stuff to me."

Todd paused to collect himself, and then continued on in a flat, bitter tone. "I hated him, yo. I hated him so much that I wanted to kill him, an' I wanted to do it slow. So one day he came home an' went to start beatin me, calling me worthless trash, an'…. an' I just _snapped_. Next thing I know we're on the ground an' I got my hands wrapped around his throat an' I'm squeezing as hard as I can. He was kicking and struggling an' his face was swelling up an' turning blue, but I just kept choking him until his feet stopped kicking and his hands quit jerking and his heart quit beating."

Todd paused and looked down at his hands. "Up until then, I thought that getting revenge on my pops for all the shit he put me through would make me happy. I thought that if I murdered my father, everything would be alright. But when I finally did kill him, when I finally got revenge, it didn't feel good and I wasn't happy."

Todd looked up and met Wanda's stare, but his eyes were blank and distant. "I still get nightmares about it." He croaked.

A few moments passed, but Wanda remained mute.

"I just don't want you to go through that too." He said softly.

Wanda's only response was to slowly get up and walk away. A few moments later, Todd sighted and lied down to sleep.

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"Todd, wake up."

"Ugh, five more minutes, yo." Todd grumbled. After last night's disaster with Wanda, he deserved five mor– wait a minute! That sounded like... "Wanda?" Todd questioned, cracking open an eye.

The scarlet-clad witch in question knelt down and handed him a package of pop-tarts and a juice box.

"Here" she said, "I got you some breakfast."

Wanda was giving him breakfast? What strange alternate dimension had he awoken in? He toyed with the notion of asking her 'who are you and where is Wanda?', but decided against it.

"Thanks Wanda" Todd said with a smile.

They ate breakfast in silence, the only sounds being the chirping of birds and buzzing of insects. When he had finished eating, Todd cleared his throat and spoke up, "Wanda, about last night…"

"How much longer until the car is fixed?" she asked, cutting him off.

Todd sighed, "About an hour, yo. I'll get on it." He hopped off toward the car.

Just as Todd predicted, an hour later the car coughed, sputtered and then roared to life. Todd closed the hood and hopped into the passenger seat while Wanda walked around the car and slid into the driver's seat.

"So" Todd asked as they pulled out on to the road, "Which way to Magneto's base?"

"There's been a change of plans" Wanda answered, "Were not going to my father's base."

Todd perked up at the unexpected news, "Where we going then, cuddlebumps?"

Wanda turned to look at him and gave him a small smile, "We're going home."


End file.
